The Office of Staten Island Borough President
02/18/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 02/19/2026 12:40
'It's A Really Bad, Really Dumb Idea': Borough President Vito Fossella Blasts Proposal To Build Affordable Housing At
Borough President Vito Fossella slammed a proposal to construct affordable housing on CUNY campuses, including the College of Staten Island, which lacks parking, public transit access and the amenities and infrastructure needed to support living space.
A report issued by the Center for an Urban Future proposed using unused or open space on CUNY campuses to build affordable housing and urged the city to adopt this policy. The College of Staten Island is highlighted as one such school with enough available space to build "multiple five-acre developments."
An estimated 8,700 students have decals to park on the CSI campus, but there are only 2,600 parking spaces -- "and here comes this group that says let's make this problem worse."
"We're here today to say it's a really bad and it's a really dumb idea," said Borough President Fossella at a press conferenceoutside of CSI's Victory Boulevard entrance. "It will hurt the students, it will hurt the faculty, it will just hurt the flow here. Let's take away hundreds or who knows how many parking spots, which would only compromise the quality-of-life for the students and the faculty at the College of Staten Island."
Jonathan R. Peters, a professor of finance and data analytics in CSI's Lucille and Jay Chazanoff School of Business, called the Victory Boulevard entrance "traffic central on Staten Island" and "a very challenged corridor."
"This really serves as the front door to the college," said Professor Peters. "The reality of life here on the campus is we have a heavy dependency on autos. This is not Hunter College, where we have the 4/5/6 train at the corner of our building. Our students, our faculty, our staff rely on automobiles. It is very difficult to get to and from other areas of Staten Island to this campus. If transit was here and if we were seeing improvements, you'd have some ideas about what you could do further, but I would suggest that we think clearly about how it would function if this was actually done."
A report issued by the Center for an Urban Future proposed using unused or open space on CUNY campuses to build affordable housing and urged the city to adopt this policy. The College of Staten Island is highlighted as one such school with enough available space to build "multiple five-acre developments."
An estimated 8,700 students have decals to park on the CSI campus, but there are only 2,600 parking spaces -- "and here comes this group that says let's make this problem worse."
"We're here today to say it's a really bad and it's a really dumb idea," said Borough President Fossella at a press conferenceoutside of CSI's Victory Boulevard entrance. "It will hurt the students, it will hurt the faculty, it will just hurt the flow here. Let's take away hundreds or who knows how many parking spots, which would only compromise the quality-of-life for the students and the faculty at the College of Staten Island."
Jonathan R. Peters, a professor of finance and data analytics in CSI's Lucille and Jay Chazanoff School of Business, called the Victory Boulevard entrance "traffic central on Staten Island" and "a very challenged corridor."
"This really serves as the front door to the college," said Professor Peters. "The reality of life here on the campus is we have a heavy dependency on autos. This is not Hunter College, where we have the 4/5/6 train at the corner of our building. Our students, our faculty, our staff rely on automobiles. It is very difficult to get to and from other areas of Staten Island to this campus. If transit was here and if we were seeing improvements, you'd have some ideas about what you could do further, but I would suggest that we think clearly about how it would function if this was actually done."
The Office of Staten Island Borough President published this content on February 18, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on February 19, 2026 at 18:40 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]